
Su-57 aircraft production / Open source illustrative photo
As the publication notes, the Su-57 is a large, fast fighter with radar-evading capabilities, designed as russia’s counterpart to the U.S. Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. It is intended to replace aging Mikoyan MiG-29s and Sukhoi Su-27s, along with their variants, in russian air force service.
The Su-57 had its maiden flight in 2010, two decades after the Raptor, the world’s first fifth-generation stealth fighter. Over the next decade, Sukhoi’s workers manually assembled 10 test models. In 2019, the Kremlin signed a contract for 76 production jets, reportedly at a cost of around $50 million per unit.
The russian firm delivered the first 10 production Su-57s to the air force in 2022 and another 11 in 2023. So far this year, Sukhoi reportedly has handed over just a few additional planes.
And in the meantime, the russian air force has lost two Su-57s – one test model and a production jet – to crashes. A Ukrainian drone strike on russia’s Akhtubinsk State Flight Test Center in southern russia in June destroyed at least one additional Su-57 on the ground.